


One of the Guys

by Sue Corkill (mscorkill)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-25
Updated: 2012-05-25
Packaged: 2017-11-05 23:30:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mscorkill/pseuds/Sue%20Corkill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam has doubts regarding her value to the team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One of the Guys

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in the fanzine Revelation, Volume IV, May 2006.

ONE OF THE GUYS

Sam shuddered briefly, but managed to keep her expression neutral as she scooped the goo into the test tube Fraiser held. They needed to collect these specimens before they degraded anymore and with her broken arm, Janet could hardly do it on her own. It seemed anyone else that could have helped her was busy getting the base back up and running after the events of the last few days. And what a few days it had been. Sam was still trying to reconcile the men of the SGC she had come to know over the past months with the men they had become under Hathor’s influence. She knew they’d had no defense against Hathor’s drug, but it was frightening how quickly the Goa’uld Queen had taken over the men—and then the base.

Speaking of which…’the men’ strolled into the room. Sam couldn’t help but notice they were dressed in their street clothes while she was still wearing her BDUs. The base had stayed on lockdown for twenty-four hours until they had been sure there were going to be no latent affects from Hathor’s little drug and evidently the guys were going to take immediate advantage of Hammonds lift of the lockdown. She felt an unexpected surge of envy, which was quickly replaced with guilt. They’d all been under a great deal of stress and if the guys were going out together to relax and unwind…well, she wouldn’t begrudge them that, even as she was envious of their easy camaraderie.

“Did you find anything?” O’Neill asked, sitting down on the same bench where just a day before they had laid him after pulling him out of Hathor’s goa’uld larva soup.

Sam let Janet answer the Colonel’s question. “Probably nothing we can use. Maybe we'll at least get a cellular level analysis on the Goa'uld's, maybe even find some DNA information.”

“A lot of that will probably be mine,” Daniel admitted, his tone rueful.

“Ewww!”

“Yeah.” Daniel agreed quietly.

Sam smiled, it seemed the Colonel was back to his usual eloquent self. But then her good spirits took an immediate dip when Hammond suddenly appeared in the tank room. This was the first time she’d seen him since everything that had happened. All she knew was that after Janet had checked him over—and thank god—found nothing wrong with him that a double dose of aspirin wouldn’t cure, he had been busy getting the base back to normal operations while she’d been busy running diagnostics trying to assess what kind of damage, if any, had been done by Hathor.

Fraiser got immediately to her feet, Sam followed a little more slowly, as did the Colonel.   
“General Hammond, sir,” Sam said automatically, ignoring the queasy feeling that was threatening the contents of her stomach.

“At ease, Captain. At ease, Doctor.”

“Thank you, sir.” Sam hurried on, wanting to get her apology out before he could say anything. “About your head, I'd like to explain that if I could.”

“Captain,” Hammond interrupted her. “I'm putting you and Doctor Fraiser up for a commendation medal.”

“Well, thank you, sir, but I can explain…” She suddenly realized what he had said, the queasiness in her stomach replaced with unexpected surprise. “You are?”

“If you hadn't kept your wits about you and done whatever was necessary we could have put this entire planet at risk. Good job, ladies.”

Sam shared a quick look with the doctor, who grinned back her; all of Sam’s worry over her impending court martial melted away. “Thank you, sir.”

“Well, that's all,” the General commented. He seemed almost uncomfortable, so Sam wasn’t surprised when he left just as quickly as he’d arrived. 

“Nice job,” O’Neill said. Sam felt a pleased warmth flow through her with the look of pride that filled his face. 

“Yeah,” Daniel added

Sam looked at Janet again and they shared a relieved chuckle. “Well,” Fraiser said, putting the test tubes in biohazard baggie. “I think that’s all I need, Sam.” She looked around the mess that was the tank room and said, “I’ll let the support staff now that they can start their clean up in here now.”

“Sounds good, Doc,” O’Neill commented as the petite doctor wove her way through the men standing in the doorway.

Sam pulled her gloves off and stood there awkwardly for a moment. She wanted to ask them what they were doing, where they were going, but this was one time she definitely didn’t feel like ‘one of the guys’. “Well,” she said with a forced smile. “I guess I’ll be going too.”

“Hey, Sam,” Daniel said when she walked past him. She paused in the doorway, conscious of all three pairs of male eyes on her. “Why don’t you come with us?” He looked at O’Neill then. “I mean, if that’s okay?” Sam waited breathlessly for his answer, sure he was going to say no when a slight frown crossed his face, but it disappeared before she could be positive. 

“Sure, why not?” he finally said.

Sam still hesitated, until Teal’c spoke. “Please consider joining us, Captain Carter.”

“All right,” she said brightly, vividly aware of O’Neill’s dark eyes on her. “Give me fifteen minutes to change?”

The Colonel nodded. “Meet us at the elevators.”

“Yes, sir!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack sat quietly, toying with his beer and watching his team. Daniel and Carter were sitting on the sofa in his living room, in the midst of a lively debate over the role of the ‘queen’ in the Goa’uld hierarchy, with Teal’c interjecting the occasional comment and observation. This was one of the reasons he’d decided to bring everyone to his house—besides the restrictions that were still in place for Teal’c whenever he was taken off base. He figured they needed to feel free to talk and hash over the events of the last few days away from prying eyes and ears.

His eyes drifted each of them, a disparate group if there ever was one—an alien warrior, a scholar and a kick-ass blonde Air Force captain. Before Hathor’s arrival, Jack would have said he knew his team well. And he would have also said that he didn’t treat Carter any different than her male teammates. So it troubled him now that it had been so easy to brush off her concerns regarding Hathor, and he wasn’t all that sure that all of it could be blamed on the drug she’d used to control them. 

Was he such a male chauvinist pig that the presence of an openly seductive woman had clouded his judgment? He didn’t like to think that was possible, but Carter, Teal’c and the other women on base had saved their collective asses. It was a role reversal that he wasn’t so comfortable with—his gender being the weak link of the team. 

He brooded while Sam continued to argue her point with Daniel and wondered if this was how she had felt with the Shavadai. Had she felt ashamed and weak, betrayed by her gender? Sure, he could always fall back on the old ‘alien influence’ excuse, but still…if he hadn’t been male, he wouldn’t have been susceptible to Hathor’s influence. Just like if Sam hadn’t been female, she wouldn’t have been seen merely as chattel by the Shavadai, only worth what a man would pay or trade for her. 

But beneath it all was a growing awareness of his captain as a woman. Not that he hadn’t been aware of it from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her, but the change in intensity had been so gradual and subtle, he hadn’t even been consciously aware of it until now. Hathor had been a beautiful woman, but the jaded Goa’uld queen had nothing on the youthful freshness and vitality that radiated from Sam. 

“So Sam,” Daniel said, “how did it feel taking on the traditional male role and saving the day?” 

Jack suddenly listened with more interest, the conversation seemed to be taking a turn that uncannily mirrored his own thoughts.

“Daniel, I’ve been fighting gender stereotyping my entire academic and military careers.” She chuckled. “For once, it was nice when my gender actually worked for me!”

“We were indeed fortunate that the female personnel of the SGC are such worthy warriors.”

“And you too, of course, Teal’c,” Sam added; praise to which he smiled and regally inclined his head.

“Yeah, all the other SG teams will be asking for female personnel now,” Jack commented casually, taking a long draw on his beer. The smile on Sam’s face immediately dimmed and her expression became painfully neutral. Jack instinctively knew by the look on her face that his off-hand remark had hit a sensitive spot.

“Sam,” Daniel said in the uncomfortable silence that followed, “you know Jack didn’t mean it like that.”

“You’re a valuable member of the team, Carter. It doesn’t make any difference that you’re a woman,” Jack said hastily, trying for damage control.

A tight smile filled her face. “Thank you, sir,” she murmured. Jack noted she kept the determined smile on her face and kept her attention focused on Daniel when the younger man deftly changed the topic and launched into a treatise on the role of women in ancient Egypt. Jack sighed softly, he hadn’t meant to demean what she had done in taking out Hathor and wasn’t so insensitive that he didn’t realize that some of the glow of his earlier praise had been effectively destroyed by his careless comment.

So, Jack wasn’t too surprised when a short time later she quietly excused herself and headed towards the kitchen. A few moments passed and Jack’s sensitive hearing picked up the soft click of the backdoor opening and closing. A quick survey of the living room showed her purse on the floor by the chair she’d vacated, so he knew she couldn’t go far. Probably out to get some fresh air away from the testosterone filled room, he decided wryly. 

When Daniel’s lecture finally wound down, he looked around the room and blinked. “Where’s Sam.”

Jack shrugged, trying to stay casual. “Went out for some fresh air.”

“Ah…well,” Daniel yawned. “It is getting late. Teal’c? Ready to head back to base?”

Jack knew Teal’c required very little sleep, but the Jaffa kept to the routines of the SGC. “Indeed, Daniel Jackson.” Teal’c stood. “As you say, it is late and the last few days have been eventful.”

“What about Sam?” Daniel asked, as he followed Teal’c to the front door. 

Jack looked up from gathering the remains of their pizza boxes and other leftovers from their dinner. “I’ll go see what she’s up to in a few minutes.”

“Captain Carter is a capable warrior.”

Jack didn’t even blink at Teal’c’s apparent non sequitur. “I know.”

Daniel paused, his hand on the door knob. “You should apologize to her, Jack.” 

Jack knew Daniel was right, but he wasn’t about to admit that to other man, at least not right now. “Carter knows that she’s a valuable member of the team.”

“Does she?” he asked cryptically. Before Jack could think of a reply, Daniel disappeared through the door after Teal’c, leaving him alone with his very capable captain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam leaned against the railing, gazing up into the night sky. The stars twinkled brightly overhead and she felt a twinge of jealousy that the Colonel lived far enough out of the city that there was hardly any light pollution. Sam sighed; she knew she was sulking, and she wasn’t proud of herself, but sometimes they just pissed her off so much. The flush of pleasure she had felt when he had told her ‘nice job’ had all but been destroyed by his indifferent comment. 

Praise was something he didn’t hand out frequently—at least to her, so she had been thrilled by the comment. Maybe too thrilled, she decided dryly. O’Neill was better than most, and she was grateful that most of the time she didn’t have to prove herself to him. But it was apparent that lurking beneath his supportive demeanor he still retained some deeply ingrained sexist attitudes. Which was nothing new in the military, she reminded herself. It was just that she had hoped to progress beyond feeling like an outsider in their little boys club called ‘SGC’.

A light breeze blew in through the pines and aspen on his property, the soothing sounds of the night flowing over her disgruntled mood leaving a melancholy sadness in its wake. Maybe part of her problem was the vivid awareness she had of the colonel as a man. It was dangerous territory to think of him in any other way than her commanding officer. She smiled in the darkness; she wasn’t a rebel by nature, though her father might argue that point, but she wasn’t so tied to the ‘rules’ that she hadn’t considered seeing how far they’d bend when it came to exploring something more with O’Neill.

The sound of a car doors closing and then the muffled roar of an engine interrupted her quiet reverie. Daniel and Teal’c must’ve decided to leave, which meant it wouldn’t be long before the Colonel would come looking for her. She was mildly surprised Daniel hadn’t come out to find out what was wrong with her; a decidedly adolescent female attitude which annoyed her immensely. Maybe she wasn’t as enlightened as she thought. 

The faint light from the house that cast quiet shadows on the deck suddenly went out and when she heard the door open, she didn’t turn around. It was a beautiful summer evening, warm and inviting, and she suddenly didn’t want to leave. The warm breeze blew over her again, this time bringing with it the faint scent of the colonel, a familiar scent of which she was way too aware.

His shoulder just brushed hers when he stopped beside her. “Beautiful night,” he murmured. She made a vaguely affirmative sound, unwilling to break the intimate mood on the deck. 

“You know, I never get tired of looking at the stars. But there’s something to be said for seeing them from your own backyard.” She felt him move and then his large hand closed around her wrist and he tugged. Taken off guard by his action, she looked at him. “Come on,” he said, his eyes twinkling in the faint light. “I want to show you something.”

O’Neill didn’t release her hand, instead twining his fingers with hers as she let him pull her along the deck, down the steps and around the side of the house. It was darker here, but her eyes had had time to adjust and her night vision was excellent. Sam caught the flash of his grin when he placed her hand on what felt like a wooden rung; she could just make out the shape of a wooden ladder running up the side of the house to the roof. 

“Go ahead,” he said.

She cocked her head and gave him a curious look. Jack just continued to smile at her. His mood mystified her and she couldn’t imagine why he had a ladder nailed to the side of his house and why they would climb it at night. But she was curious now, so she started up the ladder, her senses tingling from the light touch of his hands as he boosted her to the first rung. 

Climbing without difficulty, her head popped over the top rung to the roof and she looked around curiously. There was a small deck built into the side of the roof, with a built-in bench and a safety railing. Pulling herself up, she stepped back, waiting for O’Neill to join her. There was an awesome view, she could see the dark shadows of the mountains in the distance and the stars seemed even closer.

“This is nice,” she told him, still puzzled. For as spectacular as the view was, it would probably be better in daylight.

The Colonel flashed her another grin. “Oh, it gets better than this,” he told her cryptically. Pulling a key out of his pocket, he unlocked what looked to be a storage cupboard built into the base of the bench that ran along the roof side of the small deck. Sam leaned back against one of the rails and watched as he pulled out what looked like a tripod and then—

“A telescope!” she exclaimed. Sam watched entranced, as by the soft red glow of some kind of special electric lantern, O’Neill set up the telescope. His hands moved surely, even in the dim light, and she knew that he had obviously done this hundreds of times before, especially with an observation area built into his roof. She wondered how she had missed this when they had all been here for Daniel’s wake, but then she’d hardly been paying all that much attention to his house at the time.

After he had the telescope attached to the tripod, he fiddled with it a bit longer, looking at the sky and then through the eye piece, adjusting various dials. “There,” he finally said, shutting off the lantern. “I’ve got Lyra, with its Ring Nebula.”

Sam gave him a somewhat doubtful look and when he stepped back, she carefully approached the telescope. Leaning over, she peered through the eyepiece, the stars exploding before her eyes. It took her a moment, but she finally got her bearings, the dazzling rings of the nebula shining brightly. “Oh wow,” she murmured, tilting her head and looking at him. “This is fantastic.”

“Sit down,” he said, gesturing to the bench. It was only then that Sam realized he had positioned the telescope so that whoever looked through the eyepiece could sit on the bench. Sitting down, she looked back into the eye piece, enjoying the detail and incredible clarity of the nebula and the surrounding stars.

“Can you show me more?” she asked eagerly. 

“Sure,” he nodded. “Scoot over.”

She did and he sat down right next to her, thigh to thigh; his dark head bent over the eyepiece. Sam watched his hands as they moved expertly over the dials, his long fingers nimbly adjusting and tweaking the controls. “There,” he finally said. “M-15, in the constellation Pegasus.”

She leaned back to the telescope, with him still sitting pressed up against her side. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered. 

“I can go get the laptop,” he offered. “There’s this program—“ 

“No, no,” she reassured him with a quick smile. “This is perfect.” 

Still enthralled with the stars before her eyes, she was barely aware that the Colonel had put his arm around her while making a subtle adjustment to the telescope. “There should be a spiral-edge galaxy visible.” She shivered when his breath puffed faintly against her neck.

Scarcely breathing, Sam kept her eye glued to the eye piece, though she found it difficult to concentrate on picking out the spiral galaxy amongst the celestial bodies visible when she had such a masculine body practically surrounding her. It was intimate and seductive and if she had any sense of self-preservation, she’d bolt down off the roof before she was in any deeper. And then he spoke and the mood shattered. 

“Sam,” he murmured. “What’s really going on?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He’d startled her, he knew. She lifted her head abruptly, bewilderment filling her face now instead of the simple happiness he’d seen on her face when she looked at the stars. “What?” she asked in obvious confusion.

Letting his arm fall from around her, Jack removed the red filter and turned the lantern back on, sitting back in the corner made by the railing and crossing his arms over his chest. Her face was a paler oval against the dark night sky and he felt the faintest tug of guilt at interrupting her enjoyment of the star gazing. But…he needed the answer and he could be relentless. “Since when has it ever mattered that you’re a woman?”

She looked away and didn’t answer for the longest moment. At that moment Jack was so attuned to her that he could hear the sound of her breathing above the soft sigh of the wind through the pines. When she finally looked back at him, her professional mask was firmly in place. “It’s always mattered.”

“Not to me.”

“The hell it hasn’t!” she retorted sharply and then added a belated, “sir.”

He ignored her delayed deference to his rank; this was only partially about the military anyway. “I meant what I said the first day we met. I don’t have a problem with women, only scientists.”

Her laugh was brittle. “I’ve had to prove myself to you since the first time we went through the Stargate.” She looked down at her hands. “And practically everyday since,” she muttered.

There was something in her desolate tone that told him she really believed that. Sitting up, he scooted forward until their knees touched, taking her now cold hands in his. “Sam,” he said softly. “Look at me.” She slowly raised her head, a curious mixture of defiance and sadness in her eyes. 

“You’re a beautiful woman,” he began. A horrified look filled her face and she tried to pull away, but he held tightly to her hands. “No, no…its okay, Sam. I’m not trying to make a pass at you.” At least not right now, he silently amended. 

“Just hear me out,” he pleaded. Jack waited until she nodded and he could feel some of the tension leave her body, but he still kept her hands in his. “I’d be a fool if I didn’t realize that. But you’re also the best damn astrophysicist I’ve ever had serve under my command.”

“I’m the only astrophysicist, I’d imagine,” she remarked mildly, faint amusement glinting in her eyes.

He shrugged, she had him there. “Either way, I wouldn’t want anyone else going through that gate with me.” She still looked skeptical, so he rushed on. “I know I don’t say it often enough, but you do a damn fine job, Sam. Whether it’s figuring out some weird alien technology or kicking male chauvinist ass.”

“Or sometimes both,” she added dryly.

He smiled. “I don’t want you to be on of the ‘guys’, Sam.” He rubbed his thumb delicately over the back of her hand. “I guess what I’m really trying to say is you being a girl suits me just fine.”

She ducked her head briefly and when she looked back up at him, she smiled. “Now I would say you’re making a pass at me.” 

Jack was surprised by her teasing tone and decided to test the water. “Oh, you’ll definitely know when I’m making a pass at you,” he drawled. Sam raised an eyebrow. “Because, I’ll do this,” he told her. Releasing her hands, he ran his hands lightly up her arms until he cradled her face. He could sense her wariness, but she didn’t push him away, her eyes dark and inviting pools in the soft light. Brushing a thumb across her lips, they parted expectantly to the soft caress and he almost groaned.

“And then I’ll do this,” he murmured roughly. 

Lowering his head, he brushed her lips briefly with his. He’d meant it to be brief and casual, but her taste was like honey and he lingered, molding his lips to hers and tasting her fully. It was all he had imagined and with her sweet compliance, he felt himself sinking deeper and deeper into the kiss. It took all his strength to end the kiss before it careened any further out of control, and he somehow managed to drag his lips away from hers. Her soft whimper of loss sent a shaft of pure lust through him and he moaned, resting his forehead against hers. With a shuddering breath, he finally released her completely, shaken by the intensity of the kiss.

“That’s how you’ll know,” he rumbled, his voice hoarse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam slowly opened her eyes, holding onto the feel and taste of him as long as she could. The kiss had been everything she’d imagined, except it had ended much too soon. Kissing him had been an intoxicating combination of tenderness and passion that stunned her and she wanted more. And by the look on his face, he felt the same way. Silently acknowledging she was probably making the single worse career move possible, her lips curved in a lazy smile and she said, “Duly noted…Jack.”

An extremely satisfied smile flashed across his face and she knew she’d made the right decision. It wouldn’t be easy and it would never be safe, but she wasn’t going to shrink from whatever happened. Still smiling, he placed the red filter back over the lantern and started fiddling with the telescope again. “I think I can find the Swan Nebula,” he said, peering through the eye piece.

She smiled and scooted closer to him, watching as he made some adjustments to the telescope. Sam let her hand rest lightly on his thigh and she caught a glimpse of that same pleased expression again when he sat back and urged her to look through the telescope.   
The brilliant stars of Sagittarius filled her vision, the curving arc of the nebula coming into view. The stars twinkled brightly, as if celebrating with her. She decided she could accept that for tonight, this would be as far as they take it, especially given the promise she’d just seen in his eyes. And when Jack put his arm around her, she allowed herself a satisfied smile, thankful that she wasn’t one of the guys

THE END


End file.
